Monday, August 30, 2010

So I am utterly traumatized that my baby is starting kindergarten in 2 days…yes ..2 days and I’m already whining. I am not a hovering mother…not one of those gooey, my kids are perfect and can do no wrong kind of mothers either. Quite the opposite really. Although I truly adore my children…I see them for what they are….little extensions of me that I can live my unfulfilled dreams through…their own people…that I was trusted with to teach the best I can and release into the wild with hopes that what I’ve taught them has stuck. Blah..anyways…for whatever reason…the thought of my last baby…the one I was able to spend the most time with……starting school…is a very hard pill for this mom to swallow. I am heartbroken…and somehow…5 and a half years just doesn’t seem like enough time.On the running front…my brothers are getting ready to rock their first 5K on the 22nd of September. We ran the entire thing again this Sunday and in spite of the heat…they finished it in 35 minutes and change…awesome. After looking at my schedule after I got home on Sunday I realized that I have a wisdom tooth that’s due to come out that morning and I realized that I was going to have to either change my appointment or find out what it’s like to run looped up on vicodin and a mouth full of bloody gauze. Luckily for all involved..I was able to bump my appointment to the following morning. I am so completely excited about this race!!!! They have both come such a long way…and if pride goes before the fall…I’m looking at about a 15 story drop…and couldn’t be happier. There is something very fulfilling about watching these two grown men do this thing that is so near to my heart…and discover something about themselves along the way. On the flipside…running with your brothers can also be very disgusting. They pride themselves on who can fart the most times on our run. My little brother will light one up and look over his shoulder and holler ..’what’d that asshole say?’ There is also a good amount of shoving…snapping with wet tee-shirts, belching and bitching…Bruce does A LOT of bitching. But…we haven’t spent this much time together since we were little kids…and I’ll be sorry when it’s over. I’ve been trying to talk them into doing the half marathon that’s the same day as my full..so far…no takers.Well..I’ve got a 5 mile tempo run in the morning with my name on it so I need to get some sleep. Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their week and happy running!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Whatever to do with myself? Skip took our minions up to his mothers for the weekend this morning and I am reveling in the peace. What a positively incredible thing this is……….you forget don’t you?Shoes-Awesome. I think I’m in love!! They are so lightweight and at 26 miles in….I think I made the right move. Time will tell if they hold up as well as the Asics.Running-Not quite as awesome but the shoes help. I was holding my sub-10’s until this afternoon when I had the bright idea of running in the middle of the afternoon when it’s 80 degrees and 80% humidity. Major bonk. I switched my long run to Thursday again this week. I was out of energy gels and had not gotten to the store so I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I cut into 4 squares and took that with me instead. I’ve been doing some reading about nutrition and hydration during the long run and decided to try something different this time….and in different I mean starting to drink right away and not waiting till I was already starting to fatigue before starting to eat. I ate my first square at 2.5 miles, second at 5 miles, and third at 8 miles and didn’t need the fourth. I drank the entire way and refilled my handheld at mile 8 as well. And honestly..this is the first really decent long run I think I ever had. I was not exhausted at the end…or in the middle or beginning for that matter. I felt great the rest of the day……..and held a 9:53 pace over the course of 10 miles.Now this afternoon, on the other hand…was bullshit. To begin with…I lifted weights last night because I was too lazy to get my ass moving yesterday morning. I think what really did me in was not enough time between workouts….the fact that my legs were cashed from lunges off a bench and some serious squats….and it was too damn hot and sunny. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. And speaking of running…as the start of my marathon training grows closer…I’m itching for a training partner. It seems to be slim pickings around here…and with my long run day during the week I know the odds of finding someone are pretty poor. But reading all these blogs…and ALL these people that run with others..leaves me wanting. I like my solitude..but I acknowledge that running with other people makes the time go by faster. I LOVE working with my newbies…and there’s enough time for them to base build and be ready to start by December…but no one seems to be on board with a full marathon…they all think I’m nuts…probably true too.Anyways…I’m off to enjoy my quiet weekend. Which will include..but is not limited to…naked blogging, naked laundry, naked dishes and not so naked running with my brothers tomorrow.And check out this Ryders Giveaway from a very inspirational lady!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

I stuck my foot up R2D2’s ass, pulled it out…and there were my new running shoes. Mizuno Wave Rider 13’s. See the resemblance? I finally got my card from Dicks No Sweat insurance program for my old running shoes, so this evening….being kid free for a change….we did the sexy, irresponsible thing and went shoe shopping for me. Seriously folks…if you can find anything you can run in at Dicks Sporting Goods…buy from them…and buy the insurance policy thingy. This is my 3rd pair of shoes on an initial purchase of 90 dollar shoes….add to that the 11 bucks I paid for the policy. So all told…I’ve paid a little over 100 bucks for over 300 dollars worth of shoes…and I’ve got till February till the plan expires. Good shit. When the toe wore through my Asics at around 400 miles……I called the number on the plan..told them about it…they sent me a pre-paid UPS label. I sent them the shoes…at THEIR cost..and in less then 3 weeks I had a gift card for the initial price of the shoes..plus tax.

So back to the shoes..these are supposed to be excellent for underpronators. They felt awesome in the store…..at on point..I was running around the track with the Asics I liked on one foot…and R2D2s excrement on the other…….I went with R2. I’ll know tomorrow if I’m sorry. I have been an Asics girl for…well..ever really. But I liked the way these felt…they are super light and cushy to boot. I’m running with my brothers in the morning so I’ll know more then. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

1 Qt 3% hydrogen peroxide1/4 cup baking soda1 tsp. liquid soapAfter you recover….*you will never recover* ….from the shock…mix these ingredients together to make a shampoo of sorts. Wet your ungodly stank ass dog down in the tub….poor this crap all over him…avoiding his eyes..let it sit on him for a couple of minutes..and rinse. Repeat if necessary..it was.Folks…if hell has an oder..it’s freshly sprayed skunk. At about 1 in the morning…the dogs were bugging Vincent to let them outside. V and I had just finished watching a movie and were getting ready to go to bed. So he lets them out…and all hell breaks loose. As he runs out to shut them up….he sees the issue. The dogs had cornered a skunk right by our back door and HOLY SHIT…that little fucker let loose. So V…being 14 and a lover of his dogs…LETS THEM IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They manage..in between sneezing, whining and dying…to run through my entire house and jumped up on each and every one of the beds before I was able to chase them out. I have never in my entire life..encountered anything like that. The dogs stunk…my entire house was permeated by it because on top of the dogs streaking all over the furniture…this happened right outside my back door. The 300 dollars worth of brand new school clothes that I’d bought that day were still sitting on the kitchen table…next to the open window…where the offense occurred. So here it is…now closer to 1:30….and I’m looking online at what to use…besides a damn shotgun….to put us out of our misery. Well….I didn’t have any peroxide. So off we go to WalMart to buy some…along with a shitload of Febreeze.We get to WalMart….and are trying to avoid people because we stunk so fucking bad. Every person we walked by….just about died. I kept apologizing….but…really…what could we do? As we’re gathering our stuff….a HUGE chick fight breaks out on the opposite end of the store. These bitches were LOUD!!! Can’t imaging what they were fighting about….the last gallon of icecream perhaps? We go to the checkout………….*I did try and find a self checkout as to not put anyone else through our stench*…but alas…they do not have those open at after 2 AM I guess. And who did we end up behind in line you ask? One of the crazy bitches that was having the screaming match about 10 minutes before. So she’s checking out…and next thing we know…there are 6 cops standing there…taking statements…giving tickets….etc etc. Bet they were sorry to have to sit there dealing with drunk idiots WHILE smelling us.We get home…I mix my witches brew…have V bring me Brian to start with. V is stripping the beds and I’m washing my freshly skunked dog. I gave V Brian wrapped up in a towel..and moved on to Jenga. V dried Brian and started Febreezing anything and everything. I started laundry last night at almost 3 AM…I’m still not done.At 4:30 I crawled into my disgusting bed…in my disgusting house and dropped off to sleep. Got up at 7 to go run with my brothers. They ran the 5K in 39 minutes….go brothers.The moral to this story……there isn’t one. Just make sure to NEVER let it happen to you and yours. Night all…I’m off to do more deskunking….I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Equals bullshit….HA! Actually…it wasn’t that bad…that’s what I kept telling myself as I wrung out my shorts for the 10th time. My pace wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be but that fact that I made it home made up for that. Plus I got my long run done during the week again..and that can NOT be discounted. It is so cool to have my weekends freed up like this. I’m planning on switching my long run to during the week permanently once the kids are back in school in a few weeks….and the countdown begins. I’ve been going over the marathon plans that I printed off a month or so. Good thing I did print them off because….and stop me if I’m wrong…you now have to be a ‘paying’ member at Runners World to use the Smart Coach to the tune of 130 bucks a year or some crazy shit like that. I’m kind of going between two different programs…one put out by the Boston Athletic Association and the one I printed off of Runners World. They both have their pluses and minuses…neither have you do race distance but I can adjust that accordingly. Both are 16 week programs but I plan to extend out whatever one I choose to 18 weeks because I want some wiggle room. Sign up for the Wisconsin Marathon opens next month but I won’t actually start training till mid December. I’m still waiting on my gift card from Dicks to buy new shoes..and again I’m torn between going with my tried and true ASICS or giving something else a whirl. If I’m going to try another shoe now is the time to do it because I’ll be buying another pair right after my marathon training begins…so I can always go back if what I buy sucks. Decisions decisions.In other news….in less then a month I will be free of my offspring again. Three kids, three different schools. One in highschool, one in middle..and a kindergartener….my lord. I don’t know what throws me worse…my baby starting kindergarten…or my BABY starting highschool? V is excited, a little nervous…but like his mama…ready for anything. He has his eye on the prize with football and plans to end Case’s very impressive loosing streak with his mad skills. I’ve also picked out the race I’m going to enter my brothers in. It’s at the end of September…an evening race…and they’ll totally be ready. V and I and possibly Dom will run it as well. This is going to be crazy cool and I think Bruce and Paul will be SO into it. They’re both doing so well…surprising themselves every week. And Bruce especially needs something good in his life since so much of his life is being pushed into the shitter by a VERY immature person. Ugg..I don’t even like to think about it….makes my freakin skin crawl.So that’s my wandering Wednesday post. Hope everyone is having a productive week!